Gleanings in the Psalms (Psalm 3)

'Do you see yonder wicket Gate?' Evangelist pointing Christian in Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress to the way of salvation

Gleanings in the Psalms
(Psalm 3)

Verse 1 — "Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! Many there are that rise up against me".

Absalom's faction, like a snowball, strangely gathered in its motion. David speaks of it as one amazed; and well he might, that a people he had in so many ways obliged, should almost generally revolt from him, and rebel against him, and choose for their head such a silly, giddy young fellow as Absalom was. How slippery and deceitful are the MANY. Christ, the son of David, had many enemies. When a great multitude came to seize Him, when the crowd cried "Crucify Him, crucify Him", how were they then increased that troubled Him! Even good people must not think it strange if the stream be against them, and the powers that threaten them grow more and more formidable.

Matthew Henry

Verse 2 — "…… there is no help for him in God".
Temptation to despair of relief doth accompany unexpected and sad troubles; and this is more grievous than the trouble itself: therefore, David presenteth this temptation before God.

David Dickson

Verse 3 — "But thou, O Lord, are ... the lifter up of my head".

There is a lifting up of the head by elevation to office …. There is a lifting up in honour after shame, in health after sickness, in gladness after sorrow, in restoration after a fall, in victory after a temporary defeat; in all these respects the Lord is the lifter up of our head.

C.H. Spurgeon

Verse 4 — "I cried … He heard …"

When prayer leads the van, in due time deliverance brings up the rear.

Thomas Watson

Verse 5 — "I laid me down and slept".

Would you be secure in evil times? Get grace and fortify this garrison; a good conscience is a Christian's fort-royal. David's enemies lay round about him; yet, saith he: "I LAID ME DOWN AND SLEPT". A good conscience can sleep in the mouth of a cannon; GRACE is a Christian's coat of mail, which fears not the arrow or bullet. True grace can be shot at, but can never be shot through.

Thomas Watson

Verse 6 — "I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me".

The Psalmist will trust DESPITE APPEARANCES. Let us here limit our thoughts to this one idea, DESPITE APPRARANCES. What could look worse to human sight than this array of "ten thousands of people"? Ruin seemed to stare him in the face; wherever he looked an enemy was to be seen. What was one against ten thousand? It often happens that God's people come into circumstances like this; they say: "All these things are against me"; they seem scarce able to count their troubles; they cannot see a loophole through which to escape; things look very black indeed. It is great faith and trust that says under these circumstance: "I WILL NOT BE AFRAID".

Philip Pennett Power

Verse 7 — "… hou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly".

The book of Proverbs tells us … "There is a generation whose teeth are as swords &hellip" It was by these that Christ was devoured when, before Pilate, He was condemned to the cross by the voices and accusations of His enemies.

Martin Luther

Verse 8 — "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord".

This verse contains the sum and substance of Calvinistic doctrine. Search Scripture through and you must, if you read it with candid mind, be persuaded that the doctrine of salvation by grace alone is the great doctrine of the Word of God: "SALVATION BELONGETH UNTO THE LORD". This is a point concerning which we are daily fighting. Our opponents say: "Salvation belongeth to the free will of man; if not to man's merit, yet at least to man's will;" but we hold that salvation from first to last, in every iota of it, belongs to the most High God. It is God that chooses His people. HE calls them by His grace; HE quickens them by His spirit, and keeps them by His power. It is not of man, neither by man: "Not of him that willeth, or of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy". May we all learn this truth experimentally, for our proud flesh and blood will never permit us to learn it in any other way.

C.H. Spurgeon

This Page Title – Gleanings in the Psalms (Psalm 3)
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